The hazards of learning a new language

Learning a new language can be a wonderful experience. It refreshes and challenges the mind. With perseverance it eventually can be a gateway to meeting new friends. Finally, after much effort, it enables one to enter the deep thinking of another culture. As Charlemagne is reputed to have said, “Avoir une autre langue, c’est posséder une deuxième âme”. (To have another language is to possess a second soul.)

How can one practice non-violence?

In 1965 when I was studying Humanities at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Martin Luther King came to speak to the student body. The civil rights movement was then at its height in the southern United States. There was not a room big enough to hold the student crowd, so King spoke to thousands of students in an open air meeting.

At the end of his talk King made a call for volunteers to go to work in the south, doing civil rights activities. About 25 of us responded. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), founded by Martin Luther King, was a non violent movement. We volunteers received two days of training in non violent resistance methods. We were told that if attacked we should not fight back, but instead we should adopt a non violent position. In the worst case scenario, we were to curl up and take up a fetal position and refuse to fight back.

Child Soldiers Can Teach Us Something

Here in Canada we have two child soldiers in our midst. Both have written up their stories in books; “If My life as a Child Soldier Could Be Told “by Junior Nzita and “War Child; A Child Soldier’s Story” by Emmanuel Jal.

Junior Nzita (left) and Emmanuel Jal

Both of these young men have undergone horrific experiences in their youth. They were forcefully taken from their home settings and given a choice – “Learn to kill others or you yourself will be killed!” Their recorded stories tell of unimaginable atrocities. They lived through horrors that no child should ever experience.  Emmanuel’s experience began at the age of seven years old in South Sudan and Junior’s at the age of 12 years old in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Your Google searches are being filtered and altered

Two people can put the same word in a Google search and get very different responses.

To find our why, Google “Beware online filter bubbles”. You will then be able to see a very interesting 9-minute TED talk from Eli Pariser.

The consequences of this are troubling. This could contribute to a more divided society.

$300 million for a painting

Take a moment to peruse a photographical listing of the world’s most expensive paintings.

After seeing a similar list, my friend said “Not quite sure what to make of these paintings. Perhaps you can make more sense of them”. Now nothing gets me more riled up than the vapid lifestyles of the super rich, so here is my reaction.

Two Memorable Quotes

In front of my desk I have several memorable quotes to guide my way. Perhaps you do too. Let me tell you about two of them.

Money Talks

Some months ago, my wife and I attended a fundraiser after a hurricane had hit Cuba. There were all kinds of efforts to raise money – food and drinks were sold, books and other items were also on sale. All this took place in a church basement. Afterwards, upstairs a variety of volunteer musicians put on a spirited concert. Then there was an appeal for funds to help the stricken Cubans. The total amount raised – about $1,000.